Michael Silence: Raid over loan chided

It seems some federal agents last week broke down a California man's door and removed him and his three children, ages 3, 7 and 11.

According to News10/KXTV in Stockton, Calif., a SWAT team around 6 a.m. Tuesday broke down Kenneth Wright's door, removed him and his children, and searched the house.

As it turns out, according to the report, they were from the U.S. Department of Education attempting to collect on his wife's defaulted student loan.

"The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the SWAT for his wife's defaulted student loans. 'They busted down my door for this,' Wright said. 'It wasn't even me.'

"According to the Department of Education's Office of the Inspector General, the case can't be discussed publicly until it is closed, but a spokesperson did confirm that the department did issue the search warrant at Wright's home."

Knoxville blogger wizardpc at wallsofthecity.net wrote: "This is a joke, right? Has to be. The Onion must have hacked a legitimate news site. That's the only way I can accept that a wrong house no-knock SWAT raid by … the Department of Education is remotely possible. There is no reason, plausible or implausible, to send in door-kicking puppy killers because you're behind on your student loans."

Middle Tennessee blogger Donald Sensing at senseofevents.blogspot.com was more succinct: "The Blackshirts could not have done it better."

Let's hope the Education Department explains its action soon.

COPS AND CAMERAS: Recent University of Tennessee College of Law graduate Morgan Leigh Manning recently completed a research paper entitled "Less than Picture Perfect: the Legal Relationship between Photographers' Rights and Law Enforcement."

I learned of it from UT law Professor Glenn Reynolds of instapundit.com. And with the prevalence of camera phones, etc., the issue goes far beyond professional photographers.

In her introduction, Manning writes, "Evidence of post-9/11 tension between national security and civil liberties is seen in the heightened regulation of photography; scholars have labeled it the "War on Photography" - a conflict between law enforcement officials and photographers over the right to take pictures in public places. A simple Google search reveals countless incidents of overzealous law enforcement officials detaining or arresting photographers and, in many cases, confiscating their cameras and memory cards, despite the fact that these individuals were in lawful places, at lawful times, partaking in lawful activities." http://tinyurl.com/3kaxnh5

Manning is writing an abridged version of her 58-page paper that will run soon in the News Sentinel's Sunday Perspective section.

Michael Silence writes about Tennessee's social media. He blogs at No Silence Here, Twitters at MichaelSilence and is on Facebook.